19 month old not responding to name, not pointing and not talking

[Leedslel]

Has anyone seen this in their little one and they have eventually started reaching milestones?

• can only say mama
• doesn’t point
• doesn’t respond to name
• very limited eye contact
• doesn’t point
• doesn’t seem interested in other toddlers

My DS said a few words at 19 months but not a lot, did not point, only sometimes responded to name, didn’t have loads of eye contact and wasn’t interested in other kids. He is now 22 months and says 50 words plus and is just starting to put two words together and is trying to form sentences (unsuccessfully - mostly babbling and saying one or two understandable words 😂). He points loads (we aren’t big pointers, when we made an effort to do this he picked it up quite quickly), his eye contact is amazing now, and he responds to his name when he wants to 😂. I was really worried for a stage about autism and I guess some of my words of wisdom from far too many hours reading about it, writing posts like this and reading forums:

• not speaking in itself is not an indication of autism and lots of children don’t start speaking until closer to two
• Do they use any other way to communicate with you, the pointing is an indication of them trying to share or get your attention of something - my DS used to often used to get an item and gesture it towards us. The pointing is checking they are trying to communicate their needs with you - it may be that your child uses a different method
• Do they never respond to their name, or just not always - I think something like responding 30% of the time at this age is considered good
• Again eye contact is more about shared interest - like when reading a book do they look from you to the book or when you speak and they are playing do they look to you, do they show you toys?
• My DS is still not that interested in kids his age or younger but likes older kids. Will they play happily alongside other kids? It’s not until 2+ that you would expect kids to play together more

i guess the most important thing I learnt though was regardless of their development needs - at this point it’s too early for any diagnosis and so much can change from now to 2 years - they are your child and you will love them and make sure they have an amazing life and you will have an amazing life with them. I wish I spent less time worrying - but good to keep an eye on these things in case you need to advocate for the support they need in the future.